Cornelis de Vos

Hulst 1585 - Antwerp 1651

Tne painter Cornelis de Vos was admitted as a Master to the Antwerp Guild in 1606. In the early 17th century Antwerp was crowded with excellent painters in every genre. The art-loving merchants of the great trading city were able to employ a sizable population of artists, who were also kept busy by the great foreign demand for works of art from Antwerp. In these stimulating and competitive circumstances, Cornelis de Vos managed to create a name for himself as a respected artist. As a sideline he was also active as an art dealer. He maintained good relations with the leading painters of the city, Rubens and Van Dyck. Rubens delegated some work on large commissions to de Vos, and Cornelis de Vos's few religious and mythological compositions closely follow Rubens's lines.

Cornelis de Vos's particular genre was portraiture. His portraits are more closely dependent on the Flemish tradition than those of his celebrated Italianate colleagues Van Dyck and Rubens. De Vos's brushwork is detailed, sensitive and rich in nuances, his colouring is ardent and full-bodied in the Flemish manner. His portraits glow with staunch bourgeois well-being.

De Vos was particularly skilful in the depiction of children. His oeuvre includes so many portraits of children that it is evident that de Vos's contemporaries appreciated as much as we do his ability and predisposition to portray children as the real individuals they are.